How Amad Diallo's masterclass prevented Man United doing something not seen since Louis van Gaal was in charge

Manchester United’s Amad Diallo was the toast of Manchester this weekend as he inspired the latest and most dramatic of comebacks at The Etihad.

Diallo lured Matheus Nunes into bringing him down for a penalty before producing a moment of magic to round Ederson in the Man City goal and win it in dramatic fashion.

In doing so, Diallo showed United may well be fine without Marcus Rashford if he is to be sold and for the young winger, it felt like a career defining moment.

Of course, for United as a team and club, it was simply vital they picked up a result.

And it wasn’t just local derby bragging rights that were on the line either, as Diallo’s late show actually prevented a miserable stat rearing it’s head from the Louis van Gaal days.

Amad Diallo stops unwanted Man United record with late drama at Man City

Diallo’s penalty win was going to be enough to prevent the same statistic but the winner just added icing on the cake.

The statistic in question? Well, United had not lost three successive Premier League games since the Louis van Gaal days.

Coincidentally, that miserable run came at the same time of year as well, with defeats at Bournemouth and Stoke sandwiching a home loss to Norwich City back in December of 2015.

United did lose three from four under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, but there was a win in between, while things never got quite that bad under Erik ten Hag, despite the odd occasion of two losses on the bounce.

Why Amad Diallo was written off at Manchester United

In a remarkable twist to this tale as well, it seems that Amad Diallo wasn’t actually destined to have a good United career.

Rio Ferdinand shared a message about Diallo where he suggested those inside the club had written him off.

“Written off by many inside and out the club. Too lightweight. No power. Can’t run. Too young. Big price and more but Amad Diallo is delivering, the desire plus quality is thriving.”

It seems, then, that the Ivorian is very much in the business of proving people wrong and right now, he’s looking every bit worth the big money United spent on him.